Smyrna times., 1887-02-09
For the S,ayrnG Times
Inventions That are of Use.

stand the test of time without radical |
changes being made, even with the
principles upon which they are based
However true this may be in effect, it
1t was not discovered until the products
OF machines invented in the United
States began to supplant the products
of English inventions in the markets of
the world There is no question bnt
that the steel in the English cutting
tools is not fully equal to the same kind
made here, but the difference in finish
bears no comparison. Even in exclu-
sive Canada, no less than the distant
AntipOdes, the American Red Jacket"
chOpping axe has comparatively sup
planted the heavy and therefore un-
wieldy axe made even now in Eng
land. So too has the far-famed Shelf
field cutlery been compelled to give way
to the elegant finish given to the same
class of goods turned out here. Amer
lean sewing machines never had COM
petitOr abroad, neither has there been
many changes upon the Cam move
ment Of Howe with the straight needle
bar, as first invented, but the pairing
down from the first automatic sewer"
has been wonderful for lghtness and
ease of movement; it is this pairing
down, restless faculty prevailing Amer
/ ipQn inXrnnfnrG n tha nah IN.
lightness with strength, ease with use,
which furnishes the cause furthp adverse
criticism of our friends over the water.
American mechanics took the English
locomotive, and without changing the
cylinder and multtubular boiler of
Stephenson or the slide valve of Watt
did so bOil" down tie cumberous
mass of metal as to call forth the admi-
ration of the world for the American
locomotive in its surprising endurance
under high speed. no less than the fine
workmanship of each part. Then
again, those models of elegance and
comfort the railroad travelling coach to
what extent, is not the Pullman
sleeper" laying up in ordinary the best
of the compartment coaches on Eng
lish railways or causing them to make
radical changes too Before, however,
; the American can realize this and take
his seat in Pullman on British rail
road, he must needs be taken there in
one of those magnificent ocean steamers
that ply the Atlantic under the Eng
lish flag, the product and that of their
highest inventive skill and resource,
for nothing else could be capable of pro-
ducing such wonders as are these
"Grey Of the Atlantic" But
here, as with the locomotive, weight
and strength have been used to their
3 utmost to attain the desired end-high
speed. 70 build the shape Of these
Leviathans of the deep calls for massive
strength all the time; the structure
i must needs be strong that can stand
the mighty thrust of propellers with
= forty feet horizontal pitch, and back o.
this again engines of 10000 horse power
and in this kind of machines England
# beats the world That there are many
American inventions that are practi
caly useless, goes without saying, n
; any visitor to the Patent Office a
5 Washington can soon ascertain. Among
the many patented articles that inven
q tors in this country have tried a hanC
at is the universal car coupling" no
that selfcouplings are not in use fO
I cars with platforms of equal height
but nothing has ever yet been found t.
take the place of the " link and pin
coupling for unequal height platforms
r With the certain prospect of reward
fortunes have been sunk in the attemp
d to solve the problem, without as ye
success. Yet it looks as simple
as rolling off a log. The al
d brake of Westinghouse, who it Seems
has monopoly of the air, was mucl
more difficult to work out This ha
succeeded, as has also train signaling
by the compression of air. Anon:
other changes that are about beinl
made of a radical nature are those o
N telegraphing. Since the time of Fara
day and his discovery of the loss of tn,
r electrical fluid by induction in trans
mission, little or no attention has beeI
n paid to this loss until lately, when it i
beginning to dawn upon electrician
:, that if induction is not the true enginr,
between separated batteries, it can b.
utilized to advantage in sending mes
id sages from moving trains without wir
circuits intervening. Another prOmis
ing machine is on probation for radica
i. changes, and that is the combined
d. reaper and binder as now made.
appears to have more than enough ma
= chinery for the simple operation c
gathering up n sheaf of wheat, passin
around the string tying the knot, an
sending it to the ground with n viciOu
Us kick. There is too much top hampe
machinery for the average farmer t
monkey with. Professor Agassiz ono
,ts said that the human hand in its cOnsu
mate mobility surpassed anything tha
man could possibly invent, and prOt
= ably hearing of this caused Mason, {
'e- South Carolina, to devise a cotton picl
ing machine, with metallic finger
-, shaped exactly as the human han'
The machine straddles the row, and &
NJ. it moves along the fingers reach on
Int pluck the cotton and pass it to the res
in bags kept open for the purpose. Bu
how those fingers discriminate betwee
ripe and unripe cotton is not toll
all Another machine that is causing ii
expenditure Of much money and som
81 brains is "cOrn cutter" for field us
70 but any farmers boy knows that it
only frolic to cut down corn an
- shock it. The real labor begins wit
,ro ~ the husking peg" But of all the il
ventive discoveries of modern time
none is so surrounded with sadness al
are gloom as fell to the lot of poor Charl